Over the course of the last couple of months the IHF sent lecturers to, amongst others, Togo, Pakistan and Nepal to hold Handball@School courses.

 

First, IHF expert Ilona Hapkova travelled to Togo from 13 to 28 October to hold the first Handball@School course in the country and lecture the overall more than 100 participants in Lome, Dapaong and Sokode. The seminar in Togo’s capital Lome was attended by 33 teachers and coaches with different levels of handball knowledge. In Dapaong, a city in the north of Togo, Hapkova held a seminar with 29 participants, including two coaches and one player, and in the country’s second largest city, Sokode, 46 participants from 5 central regions were present. The programme of the courses included, as usual, theoretical and a practical lessons. In the theoretical part, the participants learnt, amongst others about handball history and the game evolution, as well as the rules, small games adapted to handball and instructional methods and received information on how to teach handball from elementary to secondary school (ages 8-14). The practical session were held in the morning and evening and included, amongst others, small games, ball handling and attacking and defence skills.

 

From 18 to 31 October, IHF lecturer Nabeel Taha was sent to Pakistan to hold Handball@School courses in Faisalabad (40 participants), Islamabad (51) and Lahore (57). In each city, the opening and closing ceremonies were attended by officials from the Pakistan Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Sports, university representatives, newspaper and TV. During the practical sessions, demonstration teams from schools were available in each city. The theoretical content could be delivered by means of Power Point and video presentations. Taha praised the commitment of the Pakistan Handball Federation.

 

IHF lecturer Juhasz Istvan travelled to Dolakha and Pokhara in Nepal from 12 to 25 November 2016. In Dolakha, 40 teachers were present and in Pokhara, 30 participants attended the courses, which consisted of theoretical sessions in the mornings and practical sessions in the afternoon. Istvan was satisfied with the commitment and knowledge of the local experts, who are coaches and former national team players. At the end of the courses, many teachers promised Istvan to start teaching handball in their schools. “I am very grateful to have had the chance to teach handball in Nepal. I feel confident I could help them,” said the IHF lecturer.